Past and present come
together in this vibrant release from Sono Luminus, But Not
Forgotten: Music by African-American Composers for Clarinet &
Piano, as clarinetist Marcus Eley, and pianist Lucerne DeSa display
the timeless class and musical stylings of composers whose music
runs rich with the knowledge and desire of gifts to be returned
through the notes on a page, and the instrument in one’s
hand.

Marcus Eley writes,
“For many years, I have had the privilege of performing
recitals featuring African-American composers for clarinet and
piano. I have felt these composers needed a format, a
champion, to make certain their compositions for my instrument were
not ignored. In current classical or “art music”, there
is little representation in mainstream recorded music of the
African-American composer. Vocal music tends to be the exception.
However, for solo wind instrument, especially the clarinet, there
is nothing. I want this CD of clarinet and piano music to celebrate
these African-American composers. Further, it is my desire that
their unique voices are heard and not forgotten.”

Marcus Eley is a graduate of
the Indiana University School of Music in clarinet, and studied at
the Hochschule fuer Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna,
Austria. Eley has performed as a soloist with the Berlin Symphony
Orchestra (Germany), the Louisville Orchestra, the Indianapolis
Symphony Orchestra, the Edmonton (Canada) Wind Sinfonia and the
National Army Military Band of the People’s Republic of China
(Beijing).

He has also given numerous
recitals in major cities of the United States. On his New York
debut recital in Weill Recital Hall, The New York Times cited his
performance as “ ...expert, songful, and
straightforward.” As a special honor, Eley was chosen
to perform on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago
and Los Angeles. Lucerne DeSa, pianist, has performed
extensively as both solo recitalist and chamber musician. Her
enthusiastically received solo recitals have been heard in such
diverse locations as Middlebury College in Vermont, the Bera
Concert Series in Brookhaven, New York, McPherson College in
McPherson, Kansas, and the University of California, Irvine. She
has performed with clarinetist Marcus Eley in recital at the
Cité Universitaire de Paris; at the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, as part of the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series; and on
the Old First Church Concert Series in San Francisco. Ms. DeSa and
Mr. Eley have also performed for radio WFMT Chicago, KUSC Los
Angeles, and for the National Public Radio series,
“Performance Today”. Their most recent collaboration
was a recital of music for clarinet and piano composed by
African-Americans at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown,
South Africa. Regarding her collaborative playing, Cue Magazine
declared, “DeSa’s pianism is out of the top drawer with
her vast array of touches, huge dynamic vocabulary, exceptional
control over nuances and phenomenal digital
accuracy”.